


A Moral Quandary

by Dream_Wreaver



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AU, Chat!Nathalie, Gabe is still the villain, Ladybug is still Ladybug, Nathalie has the Cat Miraculous, but now Adrien's in on it too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-03 08:01:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16322339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dream_Wreaver/pseuds/Dream_Wreaver
Summary: Oftentimes, Nathalie didn’t know why she’d been given this responsibility. To her, it just didn’t make any sense





	A Moral Quandary

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't get this idea out of my head so have a ficlet

Oftentimes, Nathalie didn’t know why she’d been given this responsibility. To her, it just didn’t make any sense. Why gift her with so much power? Why put her right in the middle of this huge debacle? And more importantly, why pair her up with a teenager? Had Nathalie had her miraculous for longer, she might have understood. But, she’d had it about the same amount of time as Ladybug had, so it didn’t make any sense. Then again, maybe the age difference was a benefit for the young heroine. Nathalie wasn’t suited to fixing other people’s mistakes, though somehow that was exactly what she had ended up doing. That was what she and Ladybug did, clean up other mistakes. But, unlike her companion, she knew the cause of all these messes.

And she couldn’t forgive her boss. Not because he’d gone full supervillain, given his personality that was… kind of expected to be honest. No, what Nathalie couldn’t forgive, was Gabriel’s roping his own son into playing the villain with him. When Gabriel had first confided in both her and Adrien about his plans to use the butterfly miraculous to draw out the two more powerful ones, the Ladybug and Black Cat’s, Nathalie- well she hadn’t approved but she understood. Adrien wanted his mother back just as desperately, and -wanting to spend some amount of time with his father- had offered to help in any way he could, even if it had meant being Hawkmoth’s first victim. Gabriel had been dumbfounded, here he was only letting Adrien know to try and keep him safe, and the boy was ready and willing to fight. It was a completely paradoxical situation; the boy kind enough to become a minion.

Was the goal noble? Perhaps, but the methods were underhanded and treacherous. And then, Nathalie -through some stroke of divine comedy she was sure- was handed one of the very items they sought. By the time she realized it, she had been at home. And Plagg had greeted her, admiring her snark and cold, callous logic. Logic was a perfect breeding ground for chaos he’d said, because logic never accounted for ethics and morality, and it was in the absence of those elements that destruction flourished.

That night, Nathalie had instantly put the ring back in its box, stowing the Kwami away. For five minutes, then, insatiable curiosity nagged at her, so she put it on and transformed. The freedom was exhilarating, as was the power she held within her fingertips. Even  _ after _ bumping into the girl who was supposed to be her partner. But, Gabriel and Adrien needed this more than she did, so she renounced Plagg and put him in her purse so she might deliver him to the Agrestes. The next day she headed into work, and was stopped by a large rock monster rampaging through the city. She saw a blur of blue leaping along the rooftops, following the damage as it spread but doing nothing to mitigate it. With a start she realized the blur was Adrien. But where had he gotten superpowers? Shortly thereafter, Nathalie had seen Ladybug swinging across the same route. Despite how bad an idea it seemed Nathalie followed after them, still as a civilian though.

And then, then she’d had no choice. That akuma, stoneheart apparently, was causing such a distraction to Ladybug that Adrien was able to easily sneak up on her. As Nathalie watched the non-lethal but still very dangerous carnage she saw what her compliance and loyalty to her boss might buy. She wouldn’t dare to out him to the public, but she could clean up the messes he made. Resolve firmed Nathalie put the ring back on and transformed.

Given that she had to be able to protect Adrien on her own if need be, Nathalie was well versed in several areas of hand to hand combat as well as incredibly flexible. Between that, her incredibly destructive ability, and her staff, it was easy to fend off the… bird villain? Adrien was playing at. Ladybug was able to focus more fully on the akuma and defeat it. But the butterfly began to fly away, something which to Nathalie hadn’t spelled for anything but more trouble.

“Ladybug,” she had placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder, the other pointing to the escaping insect “You might want to get that,”

“Oh, right,” Ladybug had fiddled with her yoyo and managed to capture it, “And now, we deal with, hey wait, where did the bird boy go?”

Nathalie looked around and nearly swore. In the midst of the chaos, Adrien had escaped. Well, at least they both had failed. Though Nathalie was sure this was only the beginning.

MLB

How right she was. Sometimes, when she was particularly stressed, it was hard to ignore the temptation of simply handing over her ring and making it that much easier on everyone involved. Their goal wasn’t to harm anyone, all they wanted was Emilie. It was bad enough she had to keep Plagg dormant for fear of either Nooroo or Duusu coming into contact with Plagg if he wandered off. No one could know of her knowledge, she just couldn’t betray the family like that. Which left her in a sticky situation. The right and noble thing to do was to tell Ladybug who Hawkmoth and Paon were. With how often they terrorized Paris, it should have been an easy decision to make. But she just couldn’t do that.

“I hate being kept in there when I’m supposed to be with you at all times,” Plagg complained when she let him out for the night.

“I give you enough camembert so you can stop your complaining,” Nathalie remarked as she poured herself a glass of wine.

“Master-” Plagg instantly covered his hands with his mouth before continuing, “The Guardian entrusted you with me with the intention of stopping Hawkmoth. Granted, Paon was an unexpected element, but that means we have the chance to get both miraculouses back. Why can’t you let me roam free?”

“Plagg…” Nathalie hesitated, toying the the stem of her wine glass, “Can you… sense other Kwami?”

“Of course I can,” Plagg replied, “Not as an exact thing. It’s not like GPS or anything, but I can sense when they’re in the general vicinity.”

“And… what happens if you were to find out another holder’s identity?”

“Nothing,” Plagg answered, “They placed a dumb spell on us to keep us from revealing the identity of our wielders to other Kwami.”

“So if you were to find out who Hawkmoth was?”

“I wouldn’t be able to say anything,” Plagg replied, “I could give you hints, and maybe push you in the right direction. But telling you his name? Can’t do it,”

“And… what if I told you I already  _ knew _ who Hawkmoth was? And Paon, for that matter,”

“I would wonder why you’ve waited this long to tell- wait! Does this have anything to do with why you keep me in the box all day?”

“It might,” Nathalie admitted, “I couldn’t chance you being seen by them.”

“It’s your boss, isn’t it?” Plagg asked, “And his kid. They’re the villains, aren’t they?”

“I knew of Gabriel’s intentions with the brooch,” Nathalie replied, “And I know that Adrien wanted to help him by any means necessary. They aren’t doing this for bad reasons Plagg.”

“What do they want me and Tikki for?” Plagg asked.

“They,” Nathalie sighed, “They just want her back.”

“Who’s her?”

“Emilie, Gabriel’s wife, Adrien’s mother. Something happened to her, and now… Now I’m not sure what’s going on. She’s being kept hidden, her body is there, but I can’t tell if she’s dead or in a coma or some magical induced stasis or what. That family, Plagg you weren’t around when she was, this isn’t what they’re like. All they want is her back, that’s it.”

“Sure,” Plagg scoffed, “That’s how it always starts,”

“I mean it,” Nathalie argued, “They want her back, as soon as she is, I’m sure they’d be more than happy to give up their miraculouses.”

“You say that now,” Plagg drifted sadly, “But the thing about combining me and Tikki… Nathalie that kind of power is absolute.”

“And absolute power corrupts absolutely, I know that,”

“It’s more than that,” Plagg continued, “Which one of them would be willing to sacrifice themselves for her?”

“I- what do you mean?”

“It’s the rule of equivalent exchange. You mean your boss told you about his plans to misuse Nooroo’s power but didn’t tell you the most important part about getting what he wants?”

“We should be thankful he trusted me enough with  _ that _ much,” Nathalie retorted.

“Fair, fair,” Plagg allowed, “When Tikki and I combine, we have the power to alter the very fabric of reality. But it doesn’t come without a price. Something has to be given, someone has to lose something for him to gain her back. Someone has to lose their wife, or their mother, that’s just how it works. And if she’s in such an odd state as you claim she is, some random person isn’t going to cut it. One of them would have to give up their existence for hers.”

“The whole point of getting her back is so that they can be a family again,” Nathalie mused, “But if Gabriel knows… Adrien doesn’t. You don’t think…”

“He could be willing enough to sacrifice the boy, depending on how far gone he is,” Plagg affirmed.

“But, but he  _ loves _ Adrien,” Nathalie protested, “He wanted to keep him at home, sheltered from the world like he has been his whole life. He gave him the peacock because it was the only way Gabriel could keep him safe from an akuma. Do you have any idea how  _ hard _ I had to fight to get Adrien into school? I thought if he experienced the real world it might help him change his tune. You can’t seriously be saying Gabriel would have done all that so he could sacrifice Adrien,”

“It’s not a matter of him not loving his kitten,” Plagg said, uncharacteristically solemn, “It’s a matter of who he loves  _ more _ ; his wife, or his kid.”

“So, what do you think I should do?” Nathalie nursed her wine, “I just… I just want them to be happy. Getting Emilie back would make them happy. Maybe I should talk to Ladybug and…”

“Unless you’re willing to sacrifice yourself I wouldn’t finish that sentence,” Plagg advised.

“And if I am?” Nathalie challenged, “If we use the miraculous to turn back time, back to before Emilie’s accident, and we prevent it; we alter the timeline and then Hawkmoth and Paon never come into existence. And if I have to give up my existence to make that happen, I’m more than willing to do that.”

Plagg was silent a moment, studying her. Eventually he remarked, “You’ve got it bad, don’t you?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“For your boss, you’re in love with him, and his kid, aren’t you?” Plagg clarified, “You worry about them way more than a mere employee should. And I’m not as good at it as Nooroo is, but I’m pretty good at sensing emotions myself.”

“I-” Nathalie thought to argue, but what was the point. This was her Kwami, her closest companion. If she couldn’t be honest with him, she couldn’t be honest with anybody, including herself, “I didn’t mean to do it. I never thought about him like that when Emilie was around. But then, the accident, and… he was a broken man Plagg. I’d never seen him so utterly destroyed, so helpless and vulnerable. All I wanted to do was bring him back to the man he used to be, and over time,” she shrugged helplessly, “I began from wanting to help him cope to wanting to help him smile, to wanting  _ him _ ; and with him came Adrien. And I’ve always loved Adrien, he’s so like his mother it’s impossible not to like him. But this path, I don’t like where it’s taking them, but I can’t bring myself to do anything. I can’t give you up, not knowing the chaos he would cause to get Ladybug’s earrings. And I can’t tell her who they are, because it would break my heart to know they put so much trust in me and I betrayed them. What do I do?”

“I don’t know kid,” Plagg shrugged, “It’s complicated. But the Guardian wouldn’t have given me to you if he didn’t think you would be a good hero. Whatever you choose to do, I’ll support you.”

“You will?” Nathalie sniffed, brushing at the tear she didn’t even realize had fallen.

“Someone has to,” Plagg shrugged again, “Might as well be me.”

“And… if I keep you out, you won’t let yourself be seen, right?”

“Kwami can’t be captured on video,” Plagg replied, “But I’ll try to keep out of trouble. So long as there’s cheese I typically don’t go anywhere anyways.”

“Great,” Nathalie sighed, “So I’ll have to keep  _ more _ camembert in my purse so you don’t get into mischief.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,”

“If Gabriel begins to complain about how I smell I’m going to start keeping you in the box again.”

“Fine,” Plagg sighed, “Can you keep yarn in your purse then? I like playing with that.”

“Deal,” Nathalie nodded, “And, should you go wandering and find Duusu or Nooroo, you won’t say anything about me, right?”

“Is that an order?” Plagg asked.

“Should I make it one?”

“I couldn’t even if I wanted to, you know that,” Plagg replied, “Cheer up kitten, it’ll work itself out somehow.”

“How do you know that?”

“I don’t,” Plagg said, “But true destruction comes when you give up hope. If I can keep you hoping, then,” he shrugged, “Maybe we can win.”

Nathalie let a small smile curl the corners of her lip. She reached up and cupped Plagg in her hand, using the other to gently stroke his head, “Thanks Plagg,”

“Don’t mention it- ah, a little to the left,” he replied, beginning to purr from her pets. Nathalie couldn’t suppress a snort.

Yes, sometimes Nathalie couldn’t fathom why she’d been given this responsibility. But since she’d taken it, she might as well make the best of it. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed. Until next time


End file.
